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Wine, an opposition MP whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has previously been arrested numerous times for shaking up President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling party, which has ruled the East African nation since 1986.
FILE: Singer-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, speaks during a press conference held at his home in Magere, on the outskirts of Kampala, on July 24, 2019. Image: AFP
KAMPALA – Ugandan security forces detained pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine on Wednesday during a raid on the aspiring president’s offices in the capital Kampala, his lawyer said.
Wine, an opposition MP whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has previously been arrested numerous times for shaking up President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling party, which has ruled the East African nation since 1986.
Wine’s attorney, Anthony Wameli, said his client was detained Wednesday at the offices of his opposition party, the National Unity Platform.
“The police and the army raided the NUP office, sealed off the facilities and all roads leading to the site before arresting Bobi Wine and other party officials,” Wameli told AFP.
“This is despicable and an attack on democracy by the partisan police and the military,” he said. The reason for the raid is unknown, but “politics cannot be ruled out,” he added.
Hours earlier, Wine tweeted that the police and the military “broke into offices and took valuable documents.”
“The partisanship of the security agencies before the elections is appalling,” he said, adding that “some comrades have been injured.”
Ugandan police spokesman Patrick Onyango confirmed that there was “an ongoing operation at the NUP offices.”
“Our officers have been deployed to the facility. Details of the operation will be released later,” he added, declining to comment on reports that Wine had been detained.
The media stayed away from the NUP offices and surrounding streets on Wednesday, but armed officers could be seen through the window, according to an AFP journalist.
Wine, 38, has become a popular figure among young people in a country where the average age is under 16.
After nearly a quarter of a century in power, the 76-year-old Museveni is the only president most have known.
Wine, dubbed the “president of the ghetto,” announced last year that he would challenge Museveni in the 2021 presidential election.
But since he became a deputy in 2017, Wine has been routinely arrested and placed under house arrest, his concerts banned, and public rallies scattered with tear gas.
Museveni, one of the oldest rulers in Africa, amended the constitution a second time to allow him to run for the sixth time in 2021.
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